British humor

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I'm American and I enjoy British humor. Admittedly it was an acquired taste. My favorites are Little Britain and Red Dwarf.

I also like period pieces that take place in Victorian England.

how much of it is not down to not understanding the humour subject matter or not understanding the accent?

How could I forget Edmund Blackadder in my list of unpleasant and outrageous main characters. And Hyacinth Bucket also. People I love to watch but wouldn't want to meet up with in real life.

I love Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's routines also. Though they didn't play recurring characters, really, more "types" like Python.

Its no wonder Americans have a low opinion of British humour if they're being exposed to bile like 'Keeping up appearances' and 'As time goes by'.

Some recommendations-

-Only Fools and Horses
-Not the 9'o clock News
-Hale and Pace
-The 2 Ronnies
-Open All Hours
-Porridge
-Steptoe & Son
-Allo' Allo
-Some Mothers do Ave' em
-Dad's Army
-It ain't alf' hot mum
-Red Dwarf
-Big Train
-Brasseye
-The Day Today
-I'm Alan Partridge
-Knowing me, knowing you with Alan Partridge

I'm a big fan of classic british comedy. You name it, i've seen it and love it (most of the time):

Benny Hill
Kenny Everett
Spike Milligan
The Two Ronnies
Not Only But Also
Dad's Army
Last of the Summer Wine (up until Bill Owen died, it started to go downhill afterwards.)
Love Thy Neighbour
Man About The House
George & Mildred
On The Buses
Are You Being Served

etc....

all classics.

I definitaley think it's an acquired taste though. In recent years though, it's the american's that are making all the good comedies:

The Drew Carey Show
The Big Bang Theory

Just to name a couple.

James Bond movies have British comedy in them. "Making mud pies, 007?" "He would have been me in a matter of days, if you'd only given the poor fellow a chance. It's such a pity I was dying to see how the operation would go". "You killed my other double, since then other candidates have been rather scarce".

I think the concept of "British humour" is mostly a self-serving myth. Britain has produced a lot of very funny stuff, but it ranges all over the place from slapstick to cringe humour.

Not British, but prefer British humor. Stuff like Yes, Minister. Sir Humphrey is great.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNKjShmHw7s[/youtube]

I like British humor way better than American humor and I'm American. I actually laugh at the jokes and I don't get my country's sense/style of humor.

We Brits are renowned for our sense of humour, the fact that we can laugh at ourselves puzzles those across the Atlantic. Some of our classic comedies knock spots off of American comedies.

It is interesting how the modern Brit rarely takes himself seriously, a trait we here in the States could learn from. If you try to make a satire over anything that happened in the past here in America it’s looked upon as being “Un-American” and very unpatriotic. Blackadder for instance took British History for a fun ride and it was enjoyable, do that here in America and a certain section of the public would go mad and would say that we were doing an injustice to the past. All countries have done things that they should be ashamed of or feel foolish about. Lampooning it for what it is I believe is always better then hiding it behind a shield of supposed patriotism or nationalism.

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
― Samuel Johnson

Some classic british humor (all from Are You Being Served. Was proud to see the last clip was left fully intact last night on Comedy Central in NZ):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLUQ2TQUZbI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tVJK9FmMNU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hICIbleubbY[/youtube]